I live in a rural state and the one hobby shop that’s less that a day’s drive away is awesome if I want to build multi-thousand dollar r/c aircraft. For plastic models? Not so much. I’m not looking for a best of…just what people like. What online hobby supplier to you like and why? I would prefer to find where I can find “most” of my supplies. That way I can take advantage of shipping. I tried Amazon once and while I was able to find what I needed, they outsourced to so many shops that I would take a bath on shipping.
i use FREETIMEHOBBIES, SPRUE BROTHERS, INTERNETHOBBIES, SQUADRONONLINE and sometimes AMAZON (especially if the kit is in their stock and not “farmed out”). i check daily the SQUADRON site for the mystery deal.
Like you, I live in a rural area with one hobby shop that caters mostly to RC, so most of my purchases are online. Haven’t ordered from Lucky Model or Hobby Link, although their prices and selection look good. For most kits and Testors and Tamiya paints, Scalehobbiest is hard to beat on price, and they offer good shipping rates and times. Sprue Brothers are a little faster, and have a much broader inventory, especially aftermarket and non-mainstream kits, but expect to pay a little more. Squadron is the pricier of the three I have ordered from, but they carry a huge selection of products and their monthly flyer has some great deals. They are also known for “surprise” sales events, and their Black Friday sales are worth the wait.
Sprue Brothers is highly recomended. Prices & selection is good, shipping costs and times are great (even shipping to my side of the border), never had a problem with them.
Ebay, Megahobby or squadron are my top choices if I can’t get what I need from my local hobby shops (well, my favorite shop has closed down few years ago and now another shop is planning to close its door and other ones are now more R/C oriented).